


Dreaming with a broken heart

by PerriewinkleNerdie



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 19:51:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20606357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerriewinkleNerdie/pseuds/PerriewinkleNerdie
Summary: His stubbornness ends badly, resulting in interesting conversations and confessions





	Dreaming with a broken heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, hello!  
I needed fluff, and some angst slipped in, completely by surprise, I swear :D  
Enjoy! <3

There were a few things Claire was afraid of. The list was the same her whole life, not many changes. And yet, as she got closer to Ethan, she developed a new one. She was terrified of losing him, of something bad happening to him. They had so many bumps in the road to get to the point they were in now, that once they got together, they were both hanging onto one another like their life depended on it.

She was walking out of the room of one of her patients when her pager made a sound. They were calling her to the ER, the message ending with ‘urgent’. Confused, she made her way there, anxiety making her stomach twist in a knot. She was practically running down the halls, not wanting to waste any time in case it was worse than she thought.

And it was.

Upon entering the ER, she was swept aside by Naveen. He was tense, worry on his face.

“Good, you’re here. Now, I need you to be calm, I know it won’t be easy, but just hear me out.”

“Naveen, to the point? You’re scaring me.”

“We found him in the supply closet. We’re not sure what happened, we’re running tests on him…”

“Who?” she interrupted him with an impatient sigh. The chief looked uneasy as his eyes strayed from her to the bed behind the curtain. All that was visible was the tip of a shoe, sticking out from behind the thin blue material. Claire took a hesitant step, then another, until she was standing by the legs of a patient. And her heart stopped.

Ethan was laying there. Unconscious. With a wound on his forehead.

She felt her heart stop for a minute. She wasn’t sure how she should approach the situation. They were keeping each other at distance, or at least they were trying. He was her boss again. Even after all those times where they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, they still kept the other at arm’s length. And it was frustrating, because all they could think of were those last moments together, quiet and blissful, in their little bubble.

Claire snapped out of her daze, reaching out for his hand, laying on the bed, relaxed and a few degrees colder than usual. His chest was moving up and down steadily, his eyes closed as he slept, hair laying down against the pillow, a few strands falling onto his forehead. She reached over, brushing them aside delicately. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked at him, vulnerable and fragile. Turning to Naveen, she pleaded with her eyes for answers, not trusting her voice to carry her thoughts.

“We are still waiting for the test results. Calm down, he’s going to be alright.” He put his hand on her arm, squeezing softly with a knowing smile.

Naveen knew about Ethan’s feelings for the young woman. He could see the way his eyes followed her around the room. He could see the way he would smile when the three of them were having dinner in his house, how his eyes lit up every time she spoke up. How proud of her he was. How much he cared. How much she meant to him. And the very same feelings were reflected in Claire. She was watching him too. She was looking up to him for support, never afraid to ask. She took care of Jenner when he was stuck at the hospital. She would bring him food and chocolate when he was too busy to go eat. They would be staying up all night, finishing their work, with him eventually falling asleep on the couch and she would be the one to cover him with a blanket. They had a great friendship, but Naveen knew there was something so much more.

“Promise me you’ll notify me if you know something? And as soon as he wakes up, I want to be notified too.”

“You know it, Claire. I wouldn’t dream of keeping you in the dark.” She smiled at him before leaning over, kissing Ethan’s forehead affectionately, before looking at him one last time, a tear falling down her cheek, alone and quiet, almost unnoticed.

For the rest of the day she was distracted. How could she focus when she knew he was there, laying in his cold room, alone, unconscious and no one knew when he would come back. Just then, her pager beeped, notifying her of Ethan’s state. She rushed to the room, not caring how that looked. He needed her, she needed him, that was all that mattered in that moment.

Upon entering the room, she was greeted by Naveen. He had a pensive look on his face as she stood by his bed, looking down on the sleeping doctor.

“Naveen? What is it? Is everything okay with him?” she approached him, sitting on the edge of the bed, her fingers twining with Ethan’s slowly.

“The results are back. And you’re not going to be happy when you hear them.”

“Naveen, I swear to god, if you don’t drop the suspense and tell me what it is, I will lose my mind.”

“He’s tired. Overworked. His body gave up, because he wasn’t eating enough, and he wasn’t sleeping enough. That’s why he collapsed in that damn supply closet. And before you ask, everything is okay, no damage to his head due to his fall.”

“So… he needs to rest, right?”

“Essentially, yes. That’s it.”

“Then why hasn’t he woken up yet? He should have woken up by now, something must be wrong…”

“Claire, calm down and look at me. They put him in a coma to allow his body to heal, since he won’t take care of it. He’ll wake up soon, I promise you. The medication is strong, but it will subside.”

Just then, a small moan cut through the silence. Ethan stirred in his bed, his eyes opening slowly, confused about his surroundings. Claire leaned forward, hugging him gently before leaning back, stroking his hair softly.

“Hey, take it easy. Calm down, you are safe and taken care of.” She smiled, relieved that he was okay.

“Claire…?”

“Who else would it be?” she laughed through her tears, his hand slowly raising to touch her cheek, wiping her tears away.

“Claire… you are so beautiful…”

“Ethan?”

“One day I’m going to marry you…” he whispered the words before falling back asleep, his hand falling softly against the mattress. She kissed his cheek before leaning back, looking at Naveen. He had an amused smile on his face. She blushed, rushing to explain.

“He was… under the influence of the medication…”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that. We both know the truth. Hell, he might finally be coming to terms with it. It could be any day now, that he will snap.”

“I… don’t know what to think anymore…” Claire admitted, looking back at Ethan. She leaned in to brush his lose lock of hair away from his closed eyes.

“I’ll take care of you, I promise.” She whispered before pressing a tender kiss to his forehead and standing up, walking out the door, throwing them both one last gaze.

Naveen looked between two young doctors, shaking his head with a smirk.

“Oh, Ethan. She is a good one, don’t let her slip away.” He patted his hand softly before leaving him to sleep.

\----------

The next day, Ethan woke up, feeling refreshed, but still confused. He didn’t remember what exactly happened. It was all hazy and blurred, but he had a vision that kept on coming back to him.

Claire. Her face, right above his face. And a whisper.

“_I’ll take care of you, I promise.”_

He spent most of the day alone, except for a few times a nurse came to check on him. No one would tell him what happened, everyone he asked told him they were asked not to. He deduced that someone wanted to tell him personally, but he couldn’t figure out who that might be exactly.

Around 7 pm Claire came through the door. She lingered by the frame, watching him, her face expressionless. He felt uneasy, feeling some sort of anger and distress flowing out of her.

“Claire? What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She walked over to him, sitting on the edge of his bed, but she refused to touch him. He felt a spike strike through his chest, hurt by her lack of contact.

“Claire, you’re killing me here. I don’t remember what happened, no one would tell me, and now you come in and treat me like a stranger and-“

“You collapsed. In the supply closet. You hit your head on the shelf, that’s why you have a wound there. A nurse found you, unconscious and bleeding.”

Her voice was flat, tense, her eyes trained on her hands. Ethan reached out for her, covering her palms with his own. She stiffened but relaxed a little after a while.

“Do you know why I collapsed? What’s the cause of this? I didn’t feel anything happening.”

“Your body gave up. Because you didn’t sleep and you didn’t eat.”

“I may have not been getting enough sleep but-“

“Stop. _Stop lying to me._ You can lie to Dr. Emery, you can lie to Naveen, you can lie to yourself, but _please_, don’t lie to me. When was the last time you got a full night’s sleep? When was the last time you ate?”

He mumbled something under his breath, embarrassed about his behavior. She gripped his hand, making him look at her.

“Tell me.”

“… a week and a half ago for sleep…. And five days for eating.”

It was like a slap to her face. She spent so much time with him, and she didn’t notice how he was destroying him. A tear rolled down her face, she turned away from him, avoiding his gaze. His eyes were alarmed, he sat up carefully and pulled her to him, pressing her into him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

“It’s not your fault. I don’t want you to blame yourself. Don’t you dare blame my stupidity on yourself. I’m sorry I scared you, it was never my intention. Forgive me, please.”

They were both crying, both shaking from the intense emotions that took over them, stripping down his resolve. He was done. He was so done with himself, he couldn’t stand to be away from her. He put his hands on her arms, leaning back to look at her. His left hand trailed up her neck to her cheek stroking her skin with his thumb. She leaned in, closing her eyes, a soft sigh escaping her lips.

Ethan leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, a soft kiss bringing them both comfort. His other hand wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her onto his lap. Her hands gripped his head tenderly as she leaned into the kiss. They got lost in the feeling of closeness and utter happiness, the weight of denial was gone and they felt like they could fly.

They broke the kiss, their foreheads touching, eyes closed, taking deep breaths to steady their heartbeats. He laughed, a true laugh of relief as he hugged her closer, his grip on her never loosening. She opened her eyes, an amused smirk on her lips.

“What got you so giddy?”

“I’m just relieved. The burden of pushing myself away from you, despite my wants and desires was weighting down on me. I feel as though someone took off a bag of stones off my back.”

“I know what you feel, cause I feel the same way. You have no idea how happy I am.”

“I _might_ have an idea of what you’re feeling.” He smirked before kissing her again, nipping on her lower lip. She broke away from him again, putting her index finger on his lips. He kissed it, moving his hand to her wrist and proceeded to kiss the remaining four fingers, looking her dead in the eyes.

“You have been acting like a child, so I am going to treat you like one. From now on, you will be eating with me, and you will be sleeping enough. Even if I have to tie you to bed to make sure you have no choice.” She winked at him, pecking his nose playfully before standing up, leaving the room to change into her regular clothes, as her shift has ended. Is hand shot out, grabbing her wrist softly.

“How do you plan on making sure I am in bed every time if you don’t live with me?” he smirked at her, tracing his fingers up and down her arm. She grabbed his hand and squeezed lightly before walking towards the door. just as she was about to go out, she turned around, grabbing onto the frame, humor in her eyes as she spoke.

“Well, I’ll just have to take you up on your offer of marriage then.” Shrugging, she left the room before he had the chance to react. His mind froze and caught up to him seconds later.

“Marry… What… Claire? Claire, come back here! Claire?!”


End file.
